Download The Stagecoach Problem

The Stagecoach
Problem
A Dynamical
Programming problem
A Minimum Path problem
• Given a series of paths from point A to point
B
• A and B are not directly connected
• Each path has a value linked to it
• Find the best route from A to B
A sample minimum value route
The Stagecoach Problem
The idea for this problem is that a salesman
is traveling from one town to another town,
in the old west. His means of travel is a
stagecoach. Each leg of his trip cost a
certain amount and he wants to find the
minimum cost of his trip, given multiple
paths.
A sample stagecoach problem
Trying to get from Town 1 to Town 10
Begin by dividing the problem into stages like shown
Suppose you are at node i, you want to find the lowest cost route from i
to 10
Start at node 10, and work backwards through the network.
Define variables such that:
cij = cost of travel from node i to node j
xn = node chosen for stage n = 1; 2; 3; 4
s = current node
Let fn (s; xn) be the total cost of the best path for stages n; n-1; . . . ; 1,
where N = 4 is the total number of stages.
Let x*n denote the value of xn that minimizes fn (s; xn)
Let f*n(s)≡fn (s; x*n )
Start at Stage 1 (the last stage). Then
s
f*1(s)
x* 1
8
9
2
4
10
10
At Stage 2 we compute f2(s; x2) = csx2 + f*1 (x2) for all possible (s; x2)
At Stage 3 we compute f3(s; x3) = csx3 + f*2 (x3) for all possible (s; x3)
At Stage 4 we compute f4(s; x4) = csx2 + f*3 (x4) for all possible (s; x4)
Working forwards from stage 4 to stage 1 you follow the best
route from the tables.
You then add up the numbers along the route and get you best
solution from the problem
Still in Use
• This problem can be used in Computer
Networks
• Plane travel
• Many other applications
The Stagecoach
Problem
A Dynamical
Programming problem